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MRSCP Supports the UW Associated Students of Madison

MRSCP asks you to contact University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank and Vice Provost Patrick Sims in support of the recent resolution by the Associated Students of Madison (ASM) calling for divestment and investment transparency.

Because this broad social justice resolution included support for Palestinian lives affected by the Israeli occupation, it was immediately repudiated by Chancellor Blank and is the target of a pressure campaign by supporters of Israel. UW-Madison Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace-Madison have asked people to support the resolution.

The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project commends the Associated Students of Madison (ASM), the UW-Madison student government, for passing a resolution calling on the university to be more transparent about where UW Foundation funds are invested, and to divest from corporations profiting from private prisons, fossil fuels, border walls, and arms manufacturing, and from certain banks.

This resolution was motivated by a broad range of concerns that students felt demanded transparency and divestment including economic, political and government attacks on the lives of low-income and minority communities here at home and around the world.

The fact that the resolution mentions Palestinian lives as among those worthy of consideration has led some to attack the student government for being “anti-Jewish”.

This is a frequently-used tactic aimed solely at stifling any debate about or criticism of the policies of the Israeli government. It is a slander upon those who put forward and supported this resolution that cannot go unchallenged.

We urge the UW Administration to stop attacks upon this resolution and its supporters, and instead to support these efforts by students on behalf of social responsibility, justice and equal rights for all people.